I've been reading slashdot for a while, and while I find the groundless MS bashing (or groundless bashing of anything) tiresome, I'd have to say that if slashdot 'cleaned up' their icons, it would probably be an indicator to me that it's becoming a site I don't want to read any more. Having a sense of humour is not a failing.
Yes, there's a silly Borg picture of Bill Gates for MS stories. Deal with it.
My mistake - it was PocketMoney that used the dodgy encryption algorithm based on 'pmoney'. MS Money has its own lame encryption algorithm. There were so many personal finance apps with crap encryption that I mixed them up.
Aside: even though I'm pretty cynical, I was surprised that the programs whose primary purpose is to encrypt/protect your personal data have such utterly lame/easily circumvented encryption methods. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I was. (I could have sworn there was stuff like blowfish available, or they could even just use the MS Crypto APIs, as mentioned in the article.)
Actually, what is pretty cool is that you can be modded +4, Insightful when you clearly haven't read the article (or even the summary, actually).
Hint: the article is not about security vulnerabilities in Windows Mobile, it's about security problems in the apps people run on it, with the apps using poor/no encryption, or leaking data/passwords into the registry, etc. Most of these apps are not written by MS (although the example of MS Money, and it's 'pmoney' algorithm is amusing, if a little familiar).
That is why I can run Halo, WoW, SWG, and Half-Life ALL on screen at once and not lose framerates in any of the games
Given most people can't run just one of those games without losing framerate at some point, I was wondering why you thought anyone would believe something so made up?
In the mid 90s Acorns were more mainstream than Apples in the UK thanks to their heavy usage in Education.
You don't have to tell me, I was there...tell the Mac fanboys:-)
Actually, Acorn is a good example of my point - Acorn did some innovative things, and did quite a few of them 'first'. After a while, though, people actually don't care that you were first. I used Acorn systems, and watched every one of Acorn's advantages gradually be eroded (except perhaps for their font system, which was superior for a long time) by PCs and Macs, while their own development stagnated.
Whining that you were 'first' with all these things, while true in some cases, doesn't actually get you very far in the long run. Ask Acorn. Still, it helps to cement the idea that your company is cool and trendy in some people's minds, which is probably the only reason Mr Jobs does it:-)
A 64 bit CPU and operating system in the early nineties was a huge deal and it's hard to understate just how innovative it was at a time when mainstream computers were just making the transition to 32 bit CPUs and the operating system that ran on them was DOS/Windows 3.1.
Hey, I found an old computer magazine while clearing up the other day that had an article entitled "Does business really need 16-bit?":-) It was full of great comments like some prototype CPUs such as the 32016 (32-bit CPU - unimaginable power!) being able to address up to 4Mb of RAM (I think - can't remember how many address lines it had), which was 'clearly ludicrous'.
But I digress. My point is that it's an obvious thing to do - go to 64-bit. Is a 128-bit OS a few years down the line going to be shockingly innovative? No, not really.
Which, importantly, is not to denigrate good engineering. As an example, look at the new Mac Pro enclosure. Nothing in there is innovative per se - we all know that good layout and design is something to strive for, it's just that Apple actually went ahead and did it for a change. Similarly with the original move to 64-bit OS - I'm sure there was lots of good engineering in there, but it wasn't something that surprised many people, I'm sure. As a whole, I mean. As you mention, I'm sure there were bits of innovation in there too. To take another example: ClearType - an anti-aliasing font engine was not new at the time. To use the horizontal RGB pixel layout of the LCD panels to increase horizontal resolution was innovative (in that I believe it hadn't been done before, and it wasn't that obvious).
As I said, it's the whole "We've just released a 64-bit OS - aren't we great? How come no-one else thought of this before? We must be so cool!" attitude that bugs me about stuff like this (esp. when in Apple's case, it was done ages ago, as you say. Or even look at the photocopier boys).
In summary: you kids, get off my lawn! I know your Dad!
This is the part of all this nonsense I don't understand.
Making a nice interface onto a backup system (Time Machine) - yes, great. Tooltips, even - yes (read Alan Cooper on this - I can't be bothered to argue). Stuff like that is innovative and worth talking about.
Stuff like "Oh, we invented the 64-bit OS" or "We were the first to integrate wifi into our computers" - who gives a toss? Both are stepwise/obvious improvements to any competent practitioner in the field.
Oooh, you thought of using a 64-bit CPU to run your OS? How ever did you think of that? I mean, first we had 4 bit CPUs, then 8-bit, then 16-bit, then 32-bit...but you came out of left field and decided to use a 64-bit CPU? Fantastic!
You thought of putting another peripheral inside the main box?! Awesome!
I'm not having a go at you in particular, brokeninside, - 'you' here means anyone who claims to be first with such improvements and claim they're more amazing than they really are. It always seems a bit "I'll piss on your boots and tell you it's raining" to me.
The whole 'first' thing is kind of dumb. I once pointed out to a tedious Mac fan who had a website detailing just how great and 'first' Apple were with everything, that contrary to his belief, Mac OS was not the first OS to support anti-aliased fonts - Acorn's RISC OS pre-dated it, for one. He then told me that Apple were 'the first to make it mainstream'. Typical fanboy - when you come up against contradictory facts, just change your criteria.
On the upside, if you don't spot the line on a Trinitron monitor whenever it shows a large area of white on screen, then your eyesight is probably not good enough to need HD TV anyway:)
So, do I already have one of these network cards installed, then?
C:\>ping -l 2048 media
Pinging media [192.168.1.10] with 2048 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.10: bytes=2048 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 192.168.1.10: bytes=2048 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 192.168.1.10: bytes=2048 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 192.168.1.10: bytes=2048 time<1ms TTL=128
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.10: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
Or will it make my pings even faster than <1ms?
And how does it remove latency introduced by my ISP/ADSL connection?
(Both PCs involved in the ping are just using onboard ethernet interfaces, of course - not even a fancy $30 3Com NIC.)
Awesome snake oil.
As for offloading your CPU from all that massive overhead of formulating a packet once per frame, well gosh. I'm thinking of releasing a PCI card that runs Linux that games can use whenever they need to divide floating point numbers by 5 or 7.5. Game developers will be super-excited about that, as well. Won't they? It would have about the same effect. I'm thinking $280 would be a fair price. Who's with me?
"There are no consumer products available today that are comparable to Killer. In addition to being a Network Interface Card (NIC), Killer is also a computer within a computer. With Killer's Flexible Network Architecture (FNATM) you can literally run a Linux command prompt in a window on your gaming PC."
They're right. There are literally no other products available that allow me to have a Linux command prompt on my PC.
WTF would I want that, anyway?
You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike. quake% move forwards You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike. There is a HPB here. quake% shoot HPB FTUW! You are shot by someone up on a balcony. You are dead. quake% echo "camping fagg0t" Yu-huh. You're still dead, though.
And, of course:
GD: What do you say to the customer who already has great pings to the servers they play on?
Bigfoot: We designed the Killer for those gamers that care about winning, that care about being the best. With the Killer, your ping will be even lower. So, if you turn the corner and spot your enemy you will have more of an edge with Killer than without.
Notice how they didn't follow it up with the question "What do you say to the customer who says you are totally full of shit?" Nice job with the interview, guys:-)
Anyway, ClearType is installed by default - you just have to turn it on (I've certainly never had to 'install' ClearType on XP). You don't need to go to the website to do that. I think you still need the website to tune the ClearType rendering.
However I have to say that combining it with iChat is awesome as it really takes ad-hoc tech support for family members to the next level.
Well, two things:
First, a similar facility has been available for Windows for a couple of years or more - you can request 'Remote Assistance' (just RDP, I believe) within MSN Messenger. So it's not new.
Secondly, I'm stuffed if I've ever got the damn thing to work, so that sort of tempers the deal somewhat. Of course, the last time I pointed this out, numerous slashdot muppets told me I was a 'king retard or something, because it was so easy. When it works, it is, of course. When it doesn't, not so much.
So anyway - iChat/VNC - like most things, if it works, it will be brilliant:-)
Amusing fact: while promoting 'Batman Begins' in the US, Christian Bale affected a neutral American accent, because he didn't want the American people to be up in arms about an American icon being played by some British guy.
And a Welsh one at that. Outrageous.
As for Irishmen playing American cops, I agree this is ludicrous. Much better, especially if the cop is supposed to actually be of Irish descent, to get a Scot to play the part.:-)
You can't buy a proper retail version of XP MCE 2005. It's OEM only.
Still think he's cheap?
You can only buy it from a retailer that stocks OEM OSs, and you have to buy it with a piece of hardware (as stipulated by the retailer, but usually a hard drive, RAM, CPU, mobo, etc).
Also, with the OEM OS, you don't get an MPEG2 decoder, so you have to install one if you want to watch DVDs (or in most cases, record or watch TV).
That's what I imagine Paul was referring to when he said he wanted to find out what the 'experience' was like - i.e. what it's like for someone who buys MCE 2005 to install on their PC. (And not to find out what it's like to buy an OEM OS from a retailer, ffs).
I bought a mouse with my copy of MCE 2005, which qualified as legitimate hardware to be sold with the OEM OS (according to the retailer's rules anyway).
Why don't you post your background/ethnicity Tim so we can all enjoy some jokes at your expense?
I'm British, so as a slashdot reader, I already enjoy a steady stream of stereotypical/'racist' comments about the country I live in. I don't think I've ever managed to really take offence though - I usually assume people are joking, and try not come across as incredibly self-righteous and/or indignant.
But, you know, do your worst. I'm ready. Because frankly...
Come on funny boy. Or should it be fannyboy. You like a little sausage in your gravy spout don't you?
...I don't think your worst is something I'm going to get upset about.
You're right. I bow to your superior intellect, reasoning, name-calling, higher number of countries visited, higher number of religious classes taken, and unilateral authority to insist on mandatory application of the W3C ratified standard 'joke' and 'sarcasm' tags.
Sheesh.
"I bet I've visited way more countries than you, and taken way more religious classes!"
Slashdot Mirror
I've been reading slashdot for a while, and while I find the groundless MS bashing (or groundless bashing of anything) tiresome, I'd have to say that if slashdot 'cleaned up' their icons, it would probably be an indicator to me that it's becoming a site I don't want to read any more. Having a sense of humour is not a failing.
Yes, there's a silly Borg picture of Bill Gates for MS stories. Deal with it.
You should be a proper commercial Xbox developer then. Microsoft pays all of their salaries.
Oh no, wait...
...I'm not interested.
My mistake - it was PocketMoney that used the dodgy encryption algorithm based on 'pmoney'. MS Money has its own lame encryption algorithm. There were so many personal finance apps with crap encryption that I mixed them up.
Aside: even though I'm pretty cynical, I was surprised that the programs whose primary purpose is to encrypt/protect your personal data have such utterly lame/easily circumvented encryption methods. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I was. (I could have sworn there was stuff like blowfish available, or they could even just use the MS Crypto APIs, as mentioned in the article.)
Actually, what is pretty cool is that you can be modded +4, Insightful when you clearly haven't read the article (or even the summary, actually).
Hint: the article is not about security vulnerabilities in Windows Mobile, it's about security problems in the apps people run on it, with the apps using poor/no encryption, or leaking data/passwords into the registry, etc. Most of these apps are not written by MS (although the example of MS Money, and it's 'pmoney' algorithm is amusing, if a little familiar).
Given most people can't run just one of those games without losing framerate at some point, I was wondering why you thought anyone would believe something so made up?
You don't have to tell me, I was there...tell the Mac fanboys :-)
Actually, Acorn is a good example of my point - Acorn did some innovative things, and did quite a few of them 'first'. After a while, though, people actually don't care that you were first. I used Acorn systems, and watched every one of Acorn's advantages gradually be eroded (except perhaps for their font system, which was superior for a long time) by PCs and Macs, while their own development stagnated.
Whining that you were 'first' with all these things, while true in some cases, doesn't actually get you very far in the long run. Ask Acorn. Still, it helps to cement the idea that your company is cool and trendy in some people's minds, which is probably the only reason Mr Jobs does it :-)
Hey, I found an old computer magazine while clearing up the other day that had an article entitled "Does business really need 16-bit?" :-) It was full of great comments like some prototype CPUs such as the 32016 (32-bit CPU - unimaginable power!) being able to address up to 4Mb of RAM (I think - can't remember how many address lines it had), which was 'clearly ludicrous'.
But I digress. My point is that it's an obvious thing to do - go to 64-bit. Is a 128-bit OS a few years down the line going to be shockingly innovative? No, not really.
Which, importantly, is not to denigrate good engineering. As an example, look at the new Mac Pro enclosure. Nothing in there is innovative per se - we all know that good layout and design is something to strive for, it's just that Apple actually went ahead and did it for a change. Similarly with the original move to 64-bit OS - I'm sure there was lots of good engineering in there, but it wasn't something that surprised many people, I'm sure. As a whole, I mean. As you mention, I'm sure there were bits of innovation in there too. To take another example: ClearType - an anti-aliasing font engine was not new at the time. To use the horizontal RGB pixel layout of the LCD panels to increase horizontal resolution was innovative (in that I believe it hadn't been done before, and it wasn't that obvious).
As I said, it's the whole "We've just released a 64-bit OS - aren't we great? How come no-one else thought of this before? We must be so cool!" attitude that bugs me about stuff like this (esp. when in Apple's case, it was done ages ago, as you say. Or even look at the photocopier boys).
In summary: you kids, get off my lawn! I know your Dad!
This is the part of all this nonsense I don't understand.
Making a nice interface onto a backup system (Time Machine) - yes, great. Tooltips, even - yes (read Alan Cooper on this - I can't be bothered to argue). Stuff like that is innovative and worth talking about.
Stuff like "Oh, we invented the 64-bit OS" or "We were the first to integrate wifi into our computers" - who gives a toss? Both are stepwise/obvious improvements to any competent practitioner in the field.
Oooh, you thought of using a 64-bit CPU to run your OS? How ever did you think of that? I mean, first we had 4 bit CPUs, then 8-bit, then 16-bit, then 32-bit...but you came out of left field and decided to use a 64-bit CPU? Fantastic!
You thought of putting another peripheral inside the main box?! Awesome!
I'm not having a go at you in particular, brokeninside, - 'you' here means anyone who claims to be first with such improvements and claim they're more amazing than they really are. It always seems a bit "I'll piss on your boots and tell you it's raining" to me.
The whole 'first' thing is kind of dumb. I once pointed out to a tedious Mac fan who had a website detailing just how great and 'first' Apple were with everything, that contrary to his belief, Mac OS was not the first OS to support anti-aliased fonts - Acorn's RISC OS pre-dated it, for one. He then told me that Apple were 'the first to make it mainstream'. Typical fanboy - when you come up against contradictory facts, just change your criteria.
(Apologies if I sound cranky - can't sleep...)
On the upside, if you don't spot the line on a Trinitron monitor whenever it shows a large area of white on screen, then your eyesight is probably not good enough to need HD TV anyway :)
Thank you, sir. Our Agents will be with you shortly.
You missed the part where apparently the iMac was the first Apple computer where "the monitor, computer, and speakers were all in one enclosure".
Because that requires a USB hub to be built-in to the keyboard, which increases the cost.
So buy a keyboard with a USB hub built-in. They do exist.
So, do I already have one of these network cards installed, then?
Or will it make my pings even faster than <1ms?
And how does it remove latency introduced by my ISP/ADSL connection?
(Both PCs involved in the ping are just using onboard ethernet interfaces, of course - not even a fancy $30 3Com NIC.)
Awesome snake oil.
As for offloading your CPU from all that massive overhead of formulating a packet once per frame, well gosh. I'm thinking of releasing a PCI card that runs Linux that games can use whenever they need to divide floating point numbers by 5 or 7.5. Game developers will be super-excited about that, as well. Won't they? It would have about the same effect. I'm thinking $280 would be a fair price. Who's with me?
They're right. There are literally no other products available that allow me to have a Linux command prompt on my PC.
WTF would I want that, anyway?
And, of course:
Notice how they didn't follow it up with the question "What do you say to the customer who says you are totally full of shit?" Nice job with the interview, guys :-)
Ask the man, Mr Hill.
Anyway, ClearType is installed by default - you just have to turn it on (I've certainly never had to 'install' ClearType on XP). You don't need to go to the website to do that. I think you still need the website to tune the ClearType rendering.
Well, two things:
First, a similar facility has been available for Windows for a couple of years or more - you can request 'Remote Assistance' (just RDP, I believe) within MSN Messenger. So it's not new.
Secondly, I'm stuffed if I've ever got the damn thing to work, so that sort of tempers the deal somewhat. Of course, the last time I pointed this out, numerous slashdot muppets told me I was a 'king retard or something, because it was so easy. When it works, it is, of course. When it doesn't, not so much.
So anyway - iChat/VNC - like most things, if it works, it will be brilliant :-)
I'm a games developer, and I can confirm that I'm not losing any sleep over this.
So fsck off back to where you came from!
Amusing fact: while promoting 'Batman Begins' in the US, Christian Bale affected a neutral American accent, because he didn't want the American people to be up in arms about an American icon being played by some British guy.
And a Welsh one at that. Outrageous.
As for Irishmen playing American cops, I agree this is ludicrous. Much better, especially if the cop is supposed to actually be of Irish descent, to get a Scot to play the part. :-)
"You shend one of theirsh to the morgue!"
Insightful?
You can't buy a proper retail version of XP MCE 2005. It's OEM only.
Still think he's cheap?
You can only buy it from a retailer that stocks OEM OSs, and you have to buy it with a piece of hardware (as stipulated by the retailer, but usually a hard drive, RAM, CPU, mobo, etc).
Also, with the OEM OS, you don't get an MPEG2 decoder, so you have to install one if you want to watch DVDs (or in most cases, record or watch TV).
That's what I imagine Paul was referring to when he said he wanted to find out what the 'experience' was like - i.e. what it's like for someone who buys MCE 2005 to install on their PC. (And not to find out what it's like to buy an OEM OS from a retailer, ffs).
I bought a mouse with my copy of MCE 2005, which qualified as legitimate hardware to be sold with the OEM OS (according to the retailer's rules anyway).
That mouse cost me 50 pence!
It's a better mouse than you might expect :-)
Goddamn preverts.
I'm British, so as a slashdot reader, I already enjoy a steady stream of stereotypical/'racist' comments about the country I live in. I don't think I've ever managed to really take offence though - I usually assume people are joking, and try not come across as incredibly self-righteous and/or indignant.
But, you know, do your worst. I'm ready. Because frankly...
...I don't think your worst is something I'm going to get upset about.
You're right. I bow to your superior intellect, reasoning, name-calling, higher number of countries visited, higher number of religious classes taken, and unilateral authority to insist on mandatory application of the W3C ratified standard 'joke' and 'sarcasm' tags.
Sheesh.
"I bet I've visited way more countries than you, and taken way more religious classes!"
And I'm the five year old?
Marcus thanks you.